Moving Forward
by Tara Kline
Summary: George looks back on the first year after the Battle of Hogwarts. First Fanfic post ever so please read and review!


**Disclaimer: The closest thing I have come to owning Harry Potter is a tattered book and several overdue library fees.**

**This is the first story I have posted on here (I have a few that are complete but I need to go back and edit before posting). I want to thank Emery Wright for the Descriptive Challenge (found here- .net/topic/44309/37303080/1/) that inspired me to write this. I saw it the day after it ended but you got me over my irrational fear of posting my work so thanks. **

**So anyway please review it but be constructive since I don't normally share anything I write. **

Moving Forward

It had been one year since Voldemort was vanquished and everyone was meeting at the old Order Headquarters for a memorial dinner tonight. Restless, I decided to close my shop early and spent the day wandering Diagon Alley thinking about how much has changed since then.

In the weeks following the final battle, I wondered if anything would ever be normal again. Everywhere I looked there was so much loss. So many lives that we couldn't get back no matter how much we wanted. Everyone involved with the battle had their own grief to process, but especially me. I couldn't believe there was no more "Fred and George". Fred had been more than a brother to me, we where a matching set, partners in crime. I felt like I had lost part of myself when he died.

I decided to close Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes indefinitely and move back into the burrow. Yeah, it was a bad business decision, since most of the wizarding world was celebrating Voldemort's downfall with careless abandon. But waking up in _our _empty loft and running _our _joke shop alone wasn't something I even wanted to think about right now. Goof wands and trick candy felt suddenly felt very insignificant.

That first breakfast was a solemn affair. An awkward silence hung over the burrow's tiny kitchen. Someone, I didn't know (or care) who, had moved mom's magic clock into a spare closet. No one had the heart to remove the hand indicating Fred, and the last thing any of us needed was another reminder of our loss.

Glancing around at the many somber faces I realized that dad must have magically expanded our normally tiny kitchen like he had the old Ford Angela. Harry, Hermione, Charlie, Percy, and Bill and Fleur all were staying at the burrow too. Apparently no one wanted to be alone right now.

A few days later I wandered into the living room. I wasn't surprised to see Ginny and Harry sitting on the couch together comforting each other. I was surprised to see Hermione and Ron doing the same thing, though it was about time. Everyone had began to wonder if they would ever get together. Ron was too thick to recognize his feelings for Hermione and she was to prideful to admit hers. Well, at least something good came out of this disaster.

I was earnestly happy for them but I felt as if I was an interloper in their little world of happiness. Ron and Hermione where snogging, and Harry was stroking Ginny's cheek as she whispered sweet nothings in his ear. All their love and "togetherness" was sickening. I really wasn't expecting them to devote all their time to crying, we had all spent plenty of time doing that. I guess I was just jealous that I didn't have anyone to mourn with.

If Fred was there, we would have been making corny jokes and hexing each other to make everyone laugh. Fred was gone though and he was never coming back. That ocean of pain started to wash over me again. I needed to get out of here before I had another breakdown. They would have understood but I refused to push my pain off on them again. Let them be happy, they deserve it after all they went through this year.

I quietly escaped into the kitchen but ran into Bill and Fleur. Though they weren't as overt in their affection, the look of deep love they where sharing was even harder to watch. Pain tore through me like I was hit with the cruciatus curse. I ran out of the house leaving Bill calling after me in vain.

During a few bleak seconds I thought about ending it all. Did I really want to be the "twin that lived" for the rest of my life? I quickly shook those thoughts out of my head. I wasn't that selfish. My family and friends have been through enough tragedy without me adding to it. I was furious at Fred for dieing though. I knew it was stupid and juvenile but that didn't affect how I felt.

I meandered around the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole unsure of where I was headed. I could go talk to Olivia, the pretty girl from the paper shop. A nice shagging would probably do me some good, but I wasn't really in the mood to take anyone out. So I continued on aimlessly for a few hours.

On my way home I met up with Luna, who was wearing rain boots and a hat fashioned out of soda cans. When I asked about her outfit, she informed me that she was heading to the stream looking for dabberblimps, as if it was obvious. She invited me to join her in the search, and I consented since I wasn't really ready to face my family again.

Luna and I hadn't spent much time around each other since Bill's wedding and I had forgotten how direct she was. We hadn't even reached the stream when she turned and told me that Fred wouldn't want me to mourn him like I was. In the same breath she went on to explain all about the veil and her mother.

Perhaps I should have been mad at Luna for telling me off, but I knew she was right. Fred would never want me to be grieving over him like I was his lover. I wasn't sure if I believed what Luna said about the veil or not. She wasn't nicknamed Loony Lovegood for nothing, and the soda can hat didn't help her cause. I wanted to believe her though. Her serene assurances made me gave me a glimmer of hope.

Luna was easy to be around. As she scanned the water for dabberblimps, I laid on the bank for hours listening to her talk. She chattered about everything from the Rotfang Conspiracy to Gulping Plimpies. I didn't follow much, but her voice was soothing. And she didn't keep asking me if I was okay like most people would have.

As the sun began to set I bid Luna adieu and thanked her for the nice afternoon. She agreed, even though she didn't find any dabberblimps. One day I will have to find out what the heck a dabberblimp was.

Walking back to the burrow I thought over the day's events and realized when I told Luna I had a nice day it wasn't just a pleasantry. It was the first time since the Battle for Hogwarts that I had enjoyed myself. I felt a twinge of guilt because it had been hours since Fred even crossed my mind. That led to an even bigger feeling of guilt when I remembered my melodramatic exit this morning.

The change in my attitude on my return was enough to assuage most of my family but Mom had worked herself into hysterics in my absence. Like usual, her solution was food. She bustled around the kitchen warming leftovers up while complaining about how skinny I was. I was on my third plateful by the time she finally calmed down.

**Yay! One Chapter Down! I will now be hiding under my coffee table waiting for reviews. **


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